HALLELUJAH I'M A BUM
Oh, why don't I work like other men do?
How the hell can I work when the skies are so blue?
Hallelujah! I'm a bum, Hallelujah bum again,
Hallelujah! give us a handout and revive us again.
Oh, I love my boss and my boss loves me,
And that is the reason I'm so hungry.
CHORUS
Oh, the springtime has come and I'm just out of jail,
Without any money, without any bail
CHORUS
I went to a house and I knocked on the door;
A lady came out, says, "You been here before."
CHORUS
I went to a house, and I asked for some bread;
A lady came out, says, "The baker is dead."
CHORUS
When springtime does come, oh won't we have fun,
We'll throw up our jobs and we'll go on the bum.
CHORUS
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George Milburn, in his "Hobo's Hornbook," says that a version of
this famous hobo song "was found scribbled on the wall of a
Kansas City jail where an old hobo known as One-Finger Ellis had
spend the night, recovering from a overdose of rotgut whisky.
Al Jolson, of all people, made a big pop hit out of this: in England,
though, "bum" means something else, so over there he had to sing:
Hallelujah, I'm a Tramp. RG